The Ship
' |image= |series= |production=40510-500 |producer(s)= |story= Pam Wigginton and Rick Cason |script= Hans Beimler |director= Kim Friedman |imdbref=tt0708638 |guests=Kaitlin Hopkins as Kilana, F. J. Rio as Muñiz, Hilary Shepard as Hoya and Ken Lesco as T'Lor |previous_production= Apocalypse Rising |next_production= Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places |episode=DS9 S05E02 |airdate= 7 October 1996 |previous_release= (DS9) Apocalypse Rising (Overall) False Profits |next_release= (DS9) Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places (Overall) Remember |story_date(s)=50049.3 (2373) |previous_story=(DS9) Apocalypse Rising (Overall) False Profits |next_story=(DS9) Looking for par'Mach in All the Wrong Places (Overall) Remember }} Summary While exploring a Gamma Quadrant world, Sisko, Dax, Worf, O'Brien, and Muniz — one of O'Brien's men — watch as a Jem'Hadar warship crashes into the planet's surface. The ship survives the impact, and Sisko's group finds a way into the alien craft. Once inside, they determine that all aboard are dead, and Sisko — realizes the tactical advantage that could be gained — decides to get the ship back to Deep Space Nine for study. He sends for the U.S.S. Defiant to haul the vessel with its tractor beam, while O'Brien and Muniz try to get the ship's systems on line. However, their work stops when another Jem'Hadar warship appears and destroys their orbiting runabout, killing all of Sisko's crewmembers still aboard. Sisko and the others on the surface flee inside the Jem'Hadar ship for cover. Muniz is wounded, but all make it inside alive. They prepare for the Jem'Hadar soldiers to transport inside and kill them, but no one comes. Instead, a Vorta — the race that the Jem'Hadar serves — named Kilana makes contact and requests a meeting with Sisko outside. Kilana asks him to relinquish the ship, but he refuses. While they talk, a Jem'Hadar soldier secretly materializes aboard the vessel. On the ship, the crew spots a sensor device that wasn't there when they arrived. They then see the Jem'Hadar soldier, and the invader is killed after a brief fight. Since the Jem'Hadar won't attack the vessel, the crew realizes there must be something onboard they want. Meanwhile, Muniz's condition worsens — the bleeding won't stop. O'Brien realizes he is dying. Later, Kilana requests another meeting and offers Sisko the ship in exchange for what she really wants — the item hidden aboard. Sisko refuses, not believing Kilana will really let him take the vessel. Kilana doesn't trust Sisko to bring her the item, so she won't tell him what it is. She then dematerializes, and huge explosions begin rocking the ship. The explosions continue, and Muniz grows weaker. Finally, O'Brien is able to restore main power, giving Sisko hope that they may be able to fly the vessel. They strap Muniz to the bulkhead and attempt to make their move. Unfortunately, an imminent core breach forces Sisko to cut power. O'Brien unstraps Muniz, only to make the horrible realization that his friend is dead. Then, suddenly, Dax notices liquid dripping to the floor. They look up, and see a Changeling. The creature tries to attack Sisko and Dax, but it cannot hold its shape. They realize it is dying — and that this is what the Vorta wants. The Jem'Hadar couldn't attack the ship and risk killing a Founder. As the creature dies, it emits a high-pitched humming sound. Then the sound stops — along with the explosions outside the ship. Kilana then materializes in front of Sisko. They realize that their mistrust has cost two lives — if she had told Sisko about the Founder, he would have let her take the creature before it died. If Sisko had trusted Kilana to come aboard and get what she wanted, he could have taken the ship before Muniz died. He is left to ponder the cost of their mistrust as the Defiant arrives to tow the Jem'Hadar vessel. Errors and Explanations Internet Movie Database Character error # The Benzite that was piloting the doomed runabout was not wearing her portable gas emitter that Benzites use to breathe. This is probably due to advances in medical support technology. # When they are first exploring the downed ship, O'Brien runs into a dead Jem'Hadar hanging down. He fumblingly draws his phaser in reaction. Since they were exploring an enemy vessel, Miles should have had his weapon out beforehand. He probably prefers to keep both his hands free. Continuity # As O'Brien and Worf begin to fight, Sisko reminds them that they are both Starfleet officers. But O'Brien had JUST reminded Muñiz that he (O'Brien) was NOT an officer. True, but O’Brien IS part of the senior staff. Nit Central # S. Wong on Saturday, March 27, 1999 - 5:31 pm: I just got my first chance to see this and have one question, why didn't the Vorta/Jem'Hadar soldiers beam the Founder out of the ship? Sisko and Co. would be none the wiser ... since the female Vorta did say that she was giving the ship to Sisko.Nathan K. on Sunday, March 28, 1999 - 5:30 pm: They most likely did not know where the Changeling was. It was pretending to be part of the ship and was virtually impossible to detect. The Jem'Hadar soldiers who beamed in were using a scanning device to try to detect the Changeling, but they were caught. # Annonymous no 1 on Sunday, March 28, 1999 - 9:12 am: Why not put some poison gas that will not harm a changling? cableface on Tuesday, March 30, 1999 - 1:08 pm: ''Odo did mention at one time that "...if you scan me while I'm a rock, you'll detect a rock…" The changeling was undetectable as a storage space (or whatever it was). ''Nathan K. on Thursday, April 01, 1999 - 11:57 am: It has never been established that the Dominion have discovered a gas that would do the trick, or that they would have been able to bring enough with them to flood an entire ship. They would also have had to make sure that the entire ship was still airtight-- it most likely was not after having lost the inertial dampening field and crashing from orbit to the planet. Suffice it to say that inventing a technology that has never even been mentioned and asking why it was not used in the episode is not really finding a nit. # BrianB on Thursday, April 15, 1999 - 12:44 am: Why couldn't the Changeling stealthfully make its escape? It may have been to badly hurt to do that. # Keith Alan Morgan on Tuesday, April 27, 1999 - 8:42 am: The runabout sensors could detect the ship dropping out of warp and heading toward the planet, but couldn't identify it. Worf sees very little of the ship, but knows it's a Jem'Hadar ship. Does this seem a little backwards to anyone? The Jem’Hadar ship might be able to distort the sensors, but not Worf’s eyesight. # A comment is made about this ship having a big access port to land troops, but why would the ship need to land troops when they have transporters? dotter31 on Sunday, September 10, 2006 - 8:54 pm: To land troops in case the enemy is using a transporter scrambler or some form of natural interference? Torque, Son of Keplar on Monday, September 11, 2006 - 7:28 pm: Because like it or not, there's this thing called materialization process where if you beam in and someone sees you, they can pick you off as you materialize. Plus you're exposed from more directions if you transport in. # Dax says, "The Jem'Hadar can transport through just about anything." How many Jem'Hadar transporters has Dax studied to make this 'informed' decision? BrianB on Wednesday, April 28, 1999 - 2:57 am: I think we've seen a few examples of the Dominion beaming thru Federation shields. Most notably Eris. When Dukat and Weyoun make their strike to take DS9, Weyoun responds to some officer, "Impossible. Federation shields have always proven useless..." But it is ironic what Dax says in this ep. The Dominion can beam thru just about anything, but for this one ep. they elect not to. Why? ''Keith Alan Morgan on Wednesday, April 28, 1999 - 7:19 am:''I would guess that if they beamed into the ship en masse they might be afraid of injuring the Founder with a stray shot, although why they don't beam all Federation personnel out I couldn't say.''Nathan K. on Wednesday, April 28, 1999 - 11:43 am:''I'm not sure why the Jem'Hadar couldn't or didn't beam the Starfleet personnel out-- I'll have to think about that one. But it makes perfect sense that they couldn't beam the Founder out. It didn't have to be insane; it was just hurt, and fairly badly. It may or may not have been well enough to tell what was going on. But either way, it needed medical attention and all it could do was hold its shape and hope Starfleet didn't find it. # It appeared that the Jem'Hadar were using energy weapons. So why wasn't Munoz's injuries instantly cauterized? For that matter, even if there was an anti-coagulant in the Jem'Hadar weapons, why didn't the good guys use a phaser to cauterize Munoz's injuries? They probably think that, due to the severitty of the injury, any attempt to cauterise the wound would fail. # Skull-1 on Saturday, May 01, 1999 - 1:53 pm: I'm suprised that no one has mentioned a rather large nit. Why was the female vorta wearing make-up and earrings? She also had long hair, but every vorta we have seen has short hair (even the female vorta in The Jem’Hadar). She also wore clothes that exposed her chest and she made coments about Sisco of a sexual nature. I though the vorta were cloned, and that they were not interested in sex. So why does this female vorta dress so sexy? Keith Alan Morgan on Sunday, May 02, 1999 - 12:16 am: She studied Sisko's psychological profile. Maybe she thought this would help in her negotiations? # Chris Thomas on Friday, August 20, 1999 - 9:05 pm: Now Odo has to regenerate every 16 hours from memory. I assume this applies to other Changelings. The Defiant is two and a half days away. Later we are told it is 36 hours away. 24 hours have passed and the Changeling hasn't reverted to its liquid state. Or have I messed up the maths here? cableface on Saturday, August 21, 1999 - 9:43 am: Odo has to do that, but he is less skilled than other changelings in many respects, so maybe they can hold a shape for longer. Chris Thomas on Saturday, August 21, 1999 - 11:52 pm: Granted, but I wondered well a sick Changeling could hold its shape? Wouldn't it need to revert to its liquid sooner? Isn't it expanding a great deal of energy in maintaining a shape - energy which could be helping to survive longer? cableface on Sunday, August 22, 1999 - 8:38 am: Possibly, but we really don't know much about how changelings work. KAM on Sunday, August 22, 1999 - 10:53 am: It's been a while since I've seen this episode, but are we certain the Changeling imitates one shape for the whole time? Maybe it had found a hiding spot in the hull and only assumed shape toward the end? # Anonymous on Friday, August 18, 2000 - 7:38 am: "Trusting each other" would have helped the Vorta get the Founder back, but how would it have helped save Muniz? Muniz still would have died waiting for the Defiant to arrive. I don't understand why Sisko feels so guilty. Keith Alan Morgan (Kmorgan) on Thursday, August 24, 2000 - 2:16 am: Possibly they could have gotten a cure for Muniz if they had trusted each other. # Lawyer on Monday, November 13, 2000 - 2:22 pm: I must point out that Sisko's recitation of the "Law of Salvage" is pure bunkum -- but perhaps he knew that. Salvage rights only apply when the property is clearly abandoned by its owner, (i.e., a shipwreck), not when the owner is standing outside the ship saying, "Give us our ship back!"dotter31 on Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 10:12 am: That was not happening. When the ship crashed, no one from the Dominion was there immediately to lay claim on it. Sisko was, and so he claimed it. Though, as you say, he might have known it was legally tenuous anyway, since he valued it for the intelligence he would provide- he didn't care about how he would get it. Ratbat on Sunday, March 04, 2001 - 6:02 am: I thought he was going to get sarcastic and cite the old legal right as 'finders keepers'! :) ' # ''Mr. Unexpected on Wednesday, October 15, 2003 - 3:14 pm: For the Vorta and Sisko's first meeting, they agree on "one escort each." Sisko's is Worf, standing on the ship. The Vorta has *two* Jem'Haddar guards. No wonder Sisko didn't trust her! '''Maybe the Vorta only consider a single Jem Hadar to count as half! # Mark Swinton on Tuesday, February 22, 2005 - 2:51 pm: A shame they didn't hang on to the polaron emitters from the previous episode, or done phaser sweeps of the ship (as in The Adversary, Way of the Warrior,, Homefront etc.) with which they could have been certain of a changeling's presence on board.Seniram The polaron emitters were a) dangerous to humanoids after prolonged exposure, b) experimental, and difficult to produce, and c) confiscated by the Klingons and destroyed. Phaser sweeps would drain the phaser power packs. # John A. Lang on Thursday, September 15, 2005 - 7:32 pm: The female Vorta's skin is human-colored...(peach)...not pale white like Weyoun's skin. Snick on Friday, September 16, 2005 - 10:57 am: And humans have no skin color variations amongst themselves? Joihn A. Lang on Friday, September 16, 2005 - 12:11 pm: You forget, the Vorta are CLONES. The female Vorta seen in "The Jem'Haddar" had pale-white skin. Therefore, the female Vorta in this episode should have pale-white skin too. LUIGI NOVI on Saturday, September 17, 2005 - 12:08 am: What does one have to do with the other? There can be variation among clones, especially if they're genetically engineered for it. Kilana, unlike Weyoun, tried to manipulate Sisko with kind words, offered him food, and wore makeup and elaborate clothing, despite Weyoun's statement to Kira during the sixth season opening arc that the Vorta do not have aesthetics, so maybe she was engineered with different purposes in mind that required those things. Torque, Son of Keplar on Thursday, March 23, 2006 - 9:31 am: Maybe the female vorta was an alpha quadrant clone. (See the other ship episode in DS9) ''' # Why didn't the runabout land? '''Keeping it in orbit would extend it’s sensor range. # John A. Lang (Johnalang) on Saturday, January 19, 2008 - 7:32 pm: Sisko get TWO CHANCES to go outside and not once does he grab the Medkit for Munez or ask someone else to go and get it while he is talking with the female Vorta. Anne Stockwell (Bajoran) on Sunday, January 20, 2008 - 4:58 am: Maybe the medkit was empty and/or partially damaged in the crash. Sometimes things in life reach a certain point that there is nothing else you can do and death is certain. Maybe that's what Sisko and company where thinking. Notes Sources Category:Episodes Category:Deep Space Nine